The iRobot Roomba 980 robot vacuum mop combo Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums remove pet hair, lint and dust from the floor before they settle. They also can avoid stairs and other obstacles, including tippy furniture.

The majority of robotic vacuums require maintenance, like emptying (and occasionally rinsing) the bin, and wiping cameras and sensors. They also require to be connected. A lot of them have apps for smartphones for scheduling, adjusting setting and more.

iRobot Roomba 960

The iRobot Roomba 980, the latest in a series of top-of the-line bob robot vacuum vacuums, is a staple for any modern home. This model comes with a HEPA-filter to aid those suffering from allergies. On top of that it also comes with a powerful battery that can clean up to two hours and it will return to its dock when its bin is full.

It also comes with a feature called smart mapping that uses multiple sensors to help suss out the areas in your home that require attention and make a tidy path around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does a good job of moving around toys that are left scattered on the floor or furniture legs that are sticking out from under things. It also has a sensor that will snap Roomba to reality if it starts to move away from its initial location.

iRobot has also added a new set of rollers underneath the Roomba's bottom, which don't have bristles and, therefore, tend to resist tangles better than previous models. The rollers are also larger and can be placed under beds or couches that are low. They're designed to make this model more maneuverable on different floor types.

What makes the Roomba 980 stand out from other models with a higher-end price tag Its main feature is the inclusion of a new dirt detection feature that uses a camera to spot bits of embedded dirt. This is a significant improvement over the previous model, which relied on the sensor-driven pseudorandom coverage method to bounce around the room and clean everything at least three times from different angles.

The Roomba 980 performed well in our tests on both carpets and hard floors. It scored extremely well on carpets with a low pile, and on mid-pile. It did a good job of picking up pet hair, but it was struggling with extremely thick and long pet fur that was clumped together.

Despite these minor shortcomings, the Roomba 980 remains one of our best-performing robots, and isn't even close to being as expensive as some of the other top models on this list. It still has a lot of features we'd expect to see in a top-of-the-line model however, it doesn't come with all the fancy app-enabled functions or smart home integration that you might find in other top models.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up in a matter of minutes and is ready for use as soon as you are ready to. After removing the pull tab for the battery and yellow bin insert from its undercarriage, all you have to connect it to its Home Base docking station or an outlet on the wall, press its large "Clean" button and let it get to work. It will return to its dock when its battery runs out or it's full of debris. It also has indicators on the top to indicate when its bin is full or Robot Vacuum Mop Combo it requires recharging or its Wi-Fi signal is not working.